Fluid-drive power transmission



May 18, 1943. w. REIT 2,319,706

FLUID-DRIVE POWER TRANSMISSION Filed Aug; 2, 1941 construction.

Patented May 18, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,319,706 l AFLUID-DRIVE POWER TRANSMISSION.

Walter Reit, Phlladelphimla.

- Application August z, 1941, serial No. 405,268

(ci. 74-1s9.5)

4 Claims.

It is an object of my invention to provide means for transmittingv powerfrom an engine, motor or other prime mover at varying speeds to a sourceof utilization such as, for example, the transmission between theinternal combustion engine and the driving -wheels of an automobile orother vehicle. More specifically, it is a feature of 'my invention toprovide a power transmitter containing at least two trains of gears,which gears are always in mesh. There is thus eliminated the skillrequired of an operator to shift the gears Vas well as the Wear'andstrain on the gears caused by the shifting andthe damage which mayresult to the gears because of improper or unskilled operation For amore specific exposition of my invention, reference may be had totheannexed drawing and specification at the end whereof the novel featuresof my device will be specifically pointed out and claimed.

In the drawing there is shown a diagram with 'I parts in elevation andparts broken away in cross-section. I

In that embodiment of my invention selected from among others forillustration in the draw-A ing and description in the specification, mydevice is shown as comprising, a motor M which may be any type of primemover or other means serving for the input of power to the device. MotorM has a shaft I which projects into a casing generally indicated at Cand is supported in casing C by means of bearings 3. Shaft I is securedto the rst impeller 5 by any convenient means such as a pin 1. Oppositefirst impeller 5, there is mounted an impeller-propeller unithaving atits front face a propeller 9 opposing and adapted to be driven fromfirst 2I. Stub shaft I9 comprises the driving shaft of the transmission.At its rear, shaft I9 carries a gear 23 which meshes with a gear 25forming part of a dual gear of whichA a second part 26 meshes with gear21 carried on shaft 28 axially aligned with shaft I9. Dual gear 25, 26is mounted in a rotatable carrier 29 by means of a stub shaft 30 andbearings 3l. Carrier 29 is rotatablyY mounted at its forward end in therear of tube I5, as at 29a and at its rear end in casing C throughbearings 35. Shaft 28 is carried in casing C by means of bearings 33which are in turnsupported by means of carrier 29. At its rear, shaft 28has a gear 31 vfast thereon, the rear face of which is provided withclutch teeth 39.

Propeller I3 is carried by tube I5 whichin turn carries gear III meshingwith gear 42 mounted in casing C by means of stub shaft 44 to which isalso fastened gear 46 meshing with gear 41 on the `outer periphery ofcarrier 29 Meshing with gear 31 is a gear 49 forming one `element of asecond dual gear of which another element 5I meshes with gear 53. Dualgear 49 and 5I is carried in casing C by means of shaft 55 and bearings56.

Driven shaft 51 is mounted in casing C by means of bearings 59 and hasmounted thereon impeller 5 and on its rear -face an impeller II adaptedto serve as asecond driving impeller. Opposite portion II of the dualimpeller there is mounted a second propeller unit I3 which is rotatablymounted in casing C by means of `a tubular support I5 carried inbearings I1 in casing C. l v

Impellers 5 and II and propellers 9 and I3 are shown as being in generalof dish-shape, each having a plurality of radially extending vanestherein, these vanes being wider at the outer portions of the impellerthan at the inner portions butv may, of course, be of any desired Thepropeller-impeller 9, II is secured to a stub shaft I9 as by a pin 20.Stub shaft I9 is concentric with tube I5 and is mounted in casing C bymeans of bearings I1, tube I5 and bearings gear 6I which bears on itsforward face clutch teeth 63 for coaction with clutch teeth 39 of gearGear 6I is held against rotation relative to driven shaft 51 by means ofkey 65 but is slidable along driven shaft 51 by means of a yoke or 'fork(not shownlwhich fits into collar 61 on l determined in general by theratio of the gears 23, 25, 26 and 21. At this time carrier 29 will besubstantially stationary and will remain so until the speed of thepropeller-impeller element 9, II has increased to such a point thatpropeller I3 is driven. While I have stated that the carrier29'remains'stationary, it Will be understood that it only remainsrelatively so. Actrally, during initial torque application to the shaftreduce the actual speed transmitted through the l gears23, 25, 28 'and21 to shaft 28. It will, however, be noted that such reactive rotation'of the carrier 28 will be distinctly resisted by reason of the factthat such rotation is transmitted through the gears 48, 42 and 4I to thepropeller I3 causing this propeller to tend to rotate in the oppositedirection to the impeller II which it faces. As the speed of theimpeller II increases, the resistance to rotation of propeller I3 willcorrespondingly increase until its motion finally stops and motion ofthe propeller I3 and accordingly of the carrier 29 in the oppositedirection begins. When propeller I3 begins to rotate in the samedirection as the propeller 9 thecarrier v29 is rotated in its supportsat a speed determined by the gears 4I, 42, 46 and 41 and the propellerI3, the carrier then becoming a planetary carrier which rotates in thesame direction as gear 23. This will, of course, result in an increasein speed of shaft 28, which increase will continue with increase ofspeed of carrier 29,

until the carrier 28 attains its maximum speed as determined by thespeed of rotation of propeller I3. While in the present instance thegearing 4I, 42, 46 and 41 is shown as approximately in a 1 to 1 ratio,this proportion may obviously be varied as desired. As shown, when thepropellers 8 and I3 are rotating at the same speed, the speed ofrotation of shaft 28 will be identical with that of shaft I9, sincecarrier 29 will be moving at the same speed of rotation as gear 23 andthere will be no rotative movement of the dual gear element 25, 26.

It will be obvious that if the speed of motor M is suddenly reduced sothat the output shaft tends to drive the transmission, this drive willbe transmitted through the several gearings to the propellers which willthen serve to act as impellers and, therefore, as brakes.

It will be understood that the accompanying illustration is merely givenas an example and that vthe structure may be considerably modified bothas to theparticular arrangement herein shown and as to the gear ratiosemployed. I

do not, therefore, wish to be understood as limiting myself to thepresent structure except as hereinafter claimed.

I do not intend to be limited in the scope of my invention save as theattached claims require.

I claim:

1. In a. transmission, a driven shaft, a pair of transmission trains fordriving said shaft, one of said trains including a planetary carrier forgears included in the other of said trains, said carrier being free torotate in either direction with relation to said driven shaft and afluid drive for said trains comprising an impeller, a propeller-impellerunit driven thereby and driving the last-named train, and a secondpropeller driven by the impeller of the propeller-impeller unit anddriving the first-named train.

2. In a transmission, aligned driving and driven shafts provided atadjacent ends'thereof with gears, a carrier coaxial with said shafts,said carrier being free to rotate in either direction with relation toeither of said shafts, transmission vgearing rotatably supported by thecarrier and connecting the gears of said shaft, a tube surrounding thedriving shaft, a driving connection between said tube and carrier, apropeller on the tube, a propeller-impeller unit on the driving shaftwith the impeller element thereof in driving relation to the propellerof the tube, and a driven impeller in driving relation to the propellerof the propeller-impeller unit.

3. In a transmission, a driven shaft, a pair of transmission trains fordriving said shaft, one of said trains including a planetary carrier forgears included in the other of said trains, said carrier being `free torotate in either direction with relation to said driven shaft, a driveshaft for the last-named train, a fluid impeller on said drive shaft anda propeller driven by the impeller of said drive shaft and driving saidfirst-named train.

4. In a transmission, aligned driving and driven shafts provided atadjacent ends thereof with gears, a carrier coaxial with said shafts,said carrier being free to rotate in either direction with relation toeither of said shafts, transmission

